Elizabeth Van Lew

Despite being a well-to-do Southerner, Elizabeth Van Lew helped secure an important Civil War victory for the North through her extensive spy ring which she operated from her residence in Richmond, VA.9601280

Despite being a well-to-do Southerner, Elizabeth Van Lew helped secure an important Civil War victory for the North through her extensive spy ring which she operated from her residence in Richmond, VA.

International Spy Museum

International Spy Museum

One of the most popular museums in Washington, DC, the International Spy Museum is dedicated to the history of espionage and houses many artifacts from some of the most famous spies.9601280

One of the most popular museums in Washington, DC, the International Spy Museum is dedicated to the history of espionage and houses many artifacts from some of the most famous spies.

International Spy Museum

International Spy Museum

This small piece of paper at the International Spy Museum represents one of the scrolls that was secreted across enemy lines under the careful coordination of Elizabeth Van Lew.9601280

This small piece of paper at the International Spy Museum represents one of the scrolls that was secreted across enemy lines under the careful coordination of Elizabeth Van Lew.

The Petersen Automotive Museum

One of the vehicles on display there is this uniquely designed yellow car model that was once promised to save a nation in the midst of an unprecedented fuel crisis. 9601280

One of the vehicles on display there is this uniquely designed yellow car model that was once promised to save a nation in the midst of an unprecedented fuel crisis.

Bakken Museum

Bakken Museum

On the shores of Lake Calhoun, the Bakken Museum in Minneapolis is the world’s only museum dedicated to medical electricity. 9601280

On the shores of Lake Calhoun, the Bakken Museum in Minneapolis is the world’s only museum dedicated to medical electricity.

Bakken Museum

Bakken Museum

On display at the Bakken is a wooden and glass musical instrument, invented by one of America’s founding fathers and known as the glass armonica. Not only did it mesmerize people on both sides of the Atlantic, but it also seemed to perform medical miracles no doctor could explain.9601280

On display at the Bakken is a wooden and glass musical instrument, invented by one of America’s founding fathers and known as the glass armonica. Not only did it mesmerize people on both sides of the Atlantic, but it also seemed to perform medical miracles no doctor could explain.

EBR-I Atomic Museum

EBR-I Atomic Museum

A US National Historic Landmark, the EBR-I Atomic Museum in Arco, ID, is housed in a former nuclear facility. 9601280

A US National Historic Landmark, the EBR-I Atomic Museum in Arco, ID, is housed in a former nuclear facility.

EBR-I Atomic Museum

EBR-I Atomic Museum

On display there is this oversized panel with red lights, which speaks to one of the worst nuclear accidents in American history. Was it simply an accident or did deeper tensions cause the disaster?9601280

On display there is this oversized panel with red lights, which speaks to one of the worst nuclear accidents in American history. Was it simply an accident or did deeper tensions cause the disaster?

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Photos

Axman Jazz

At The Historic New Orleans Collection in New Orleans is this piece of sheet music -- “The Mysterious Axman’s Jazz.” But who was the Axman? And what purpose did this score serve during one of the most frightening times in Crescent City history? 9601280

At The Historic New Orleans Collection in New Orleans is this piece of sheet music -- “The Mysterious Axman’s Jazz.” But who was the Axman? And what purpose did this score serve during one of the most frightening times in Crescent City history?

Cassie Chadwick

Cassie Chadwick

At the Oberlin College Archives in Ohio is a forged promissory note with ties to an infamous financial scandal. A woman by the name of Cassie Chadwick was able to defraud multiple US banks by claiming she was Andrew Carnegie’s illegitimate daughter. 9601280

At the Oberlin College Archives in Ohio is a forged promissory note with ties to an infamous financial scandal. A woman by the name of Cassie Chadwick was able to defraud multiple US banks by claiming she was Andrew Carnegie’s illegitimate daughter.

UFO Police Car

UFO Police Car

Historian Kent Broten discusses the theories behind a very strange car accident. The car is now on display at the Marshall County Historical Society in Warren, MN.9601280

Historian Kent Broten discusses the theories behind a very strange car accident. The car is now on display at the Marshall County Historical Society in Warren, MN.

UFO Car

UFO Car

On display at the Marshall County Historical Society in Warren, MN, is a 1970s police cruiser that some believe was attacked by a UFO. 9601280

On display at the Marshall County Historical Society in Warren, MN, is a 1970s police cruiser that some believe was attacked by a UFO.

The Historic New Orleans Collection

The Historic New Orleans Collection

Mysteries at the Museum visits New Orleans to see a strange artifact on display at The Historic New Orleans Collection. 9601280

Mysteries at the Museum visits New Orleans to see a strange artifact on display at The Historic New Orleans Collection.

UFO Car

On display at the Marshall County Historical Society in Warren, MN, is a police car with a curious past. 9601280

On display at the Marshall County Historical Society in Warren, MN, is a police car with a curious past.

Axman Jazz

Axman Jazz

An artifact from a terrifying time in the history of the Crescent City, on display at The Historic New Orleans Collection, tells the story of a depraved serial killer who would promise to spare anyone playing jazz music. 9601280

An artifact from a terrifying time in the history of the Crescent City, on display at The Historic New Orleans Collection, tells the story of a depraved serial killer who would promise to spare anyone playing jazz music.

The Historic New Orleans Collection

The Historic New Orleans Collection

One of the many exhibits at The Historic New Orleans Collection in New Orleans.9601280

One of the many exhibits at The Historic New Orleans Collection in New Orleans.

The Historic New Orleans Collection

The Historic New Orleans Collection

The beautiful interior of The Historic New Orleans Collection.9601280

The beautiful interior of The Historic New Orleans Collection.

Mudd Center at Oberlin College Archives

Mudd Center at Oberlin College Archives

Archived at the Mudd Center Oberlin College Archives is a more than 100-year-old financial document. How did this slip of paper help to foment a monetary scheme that netted one woman millions of dollars? 9601280

Archived at the Mudd Center Oberlin College Archives is a more than 100-year-old financial document. How did this slip of paper help to foment a monetary scheme that netted one woman millions of dollars?

Death Valley National Park

At the Furnace Creek Visitor Center in Death Valley National Park, Greg Cox handles an antique trunk that some believe is evidence of a legendary cross-country journey. 9601280

At the Furnace Creek Visitor Center in Death Valley National Park, Greg Cox handles an antique trunk that some believe is evidence of a legendary cross-country journey.

Libby Prison Bricks

Libby Prison Bricks

These weathered bricks from Libby Prison at the Chicago History Museum were at the center of one of the most daring prison escapes of the Civil War era.9601280

These weathered bricks from Libby Prison at the Chicago History Museum were at the center of one of the most daring prison escapes of the Civil War era.

Trunk in Death Valley National Park

Trunk in Death Valley National Park

Don Wildman uncovers the story behind an antique trunk housed at the Furnace Creek Visitor Center in Death Valley National Park. 9601280

Don Wildman uncovers the story behind an antique trunk housed at the Furnace Creek Visitor Center in Death Valley National Park.

Furnace Creek Visitor Center

Furnace Creek Visitor Center

A mortar and pestle on display at the Furnace Creek Visitor Center. 9601280

A mortar and pestle on display at the Furnace Creek Visitor Center.

Libby Prison Bricks

Libby Prison Bricks

Museum curator Olivia Mahoney examines the bricks from Libby Prison at the Chicago History Museum. 9601280

Museum curator Olivia Mahoney examines the bricks from Libby Prison at the Chicago History Museum.

Chicago History Museum

Chicago History Museum

On display at the Chicago History Museum are bricks connected to one of the American Civil War’s most famous prison breaks.9601280

On display at the Chicago History Museum are bricks connected to one of the American Civil War’s most famous prison breaks.

Museum of Science and Energy

Museum of Science and Energy

On display at the American Museum of Science and Energy in Oak Ridge, TN, is a metal machine called a calutron. The machine played a critical role in a stunning prophecy of Armageddon and urbanization. 9601280

On display at the American Museum of Science and Energy in Oak Ridge, TN, is a metal machine called a calutron. The machine played a critical role in a stunning prophecy of Armageddon and urbanization.

Furnace Creek Visitors Center

Furnace Creek Visitors Center

An artifact that was found in the antique trunk that’s currently housed at Furnace Creek Visitors Center. 9601280

An artifact that was found in the antique trunk that’s currently housed at Furnace Creek Visitors Center.

Mothman Museum

Mothman Museum

Don Wildman investigates artifacts at the Mothman Museum in Point Pleasant, WV. 9601280

Don Wildman investigates artifacts at the Mothman Museum in Point Pleasant, WV.

Death Valley National Park

Death Valley National Park

The antique trunk that was discovered in Death Valley National Park. 9601280

The antique trunk that was discovered in Death Valley National Park.

Mothman Museum

Mothman Museum

National Atomic Testing Museum

Allan Palmer, director at the National Atomic Testing Museum, examines a collection of rocks found after a strange explosion in Russia. The debris has some very unusual properties, confounding scientists since its discovery in 1986. 9601280

Allan Palmer, director at the National Atomic Testing Museum, examines a collection of rocks found after a strange explosion in Russia. The debris has some very unusual properties, confounding scientists since its discovery in 1986.

Pieces of Eight

Pieces of Eight

Spanish dollars, also known as Pieces of Eight, that are housed at the McLarty Treasure Museum in Vero Beach, FL. The museum was built on land that was once used as a camp for the survivors of a 1715 shipwreck, and is home to many objects that have washed ashore from that ill-fated Spanish ship. 9601280

Spanish dollars, also known as Pieces of Eight, that are housed at the McLarty Treasure Museum in Vero Beach, FL. The museum was built on land that was once used as a camp for the survivors of a 1715 shipwreck, and is home to many objects that have washed ashore from that ill-fated Spanish ship.

Haggin Museum

Haggin Museum

On display at the Haggin Museum in Stockton, CA, is a vintage trunk that was at the center of a notorious (and gruesome) scandal. 9601280

On display at the Haggin Museum in Stockton, CA, is a vintage trunk that was at the center of a notorious (and gruesome) scandal.

Koreshan State Historic Site

Koreshan State Historic Site

On display at the Koreshan State Historic Site in Estero, FL, is a strange-looking globe that tells the story of a man named Cyrus Reed Teed. Teed had some rather … unusual … beliefs about the structure of earth, and founded a cult that referred to themselves as the Koreshan Unity. 9601280

On display at the Koreshan State Historic Site in Estero, FL, is a strange-looking globe that tells the story of a man named Cyrus Reed Teed. Teed had some rather … unusual … beliefs about the structure of earth, and founded a cult that referred to themselves as the Koreshan Unity.

McLarty Treasure Museum

McLarty Treasure Museum

Visit the McLarty Treasure Museum in Vero Beach, FL, to see some of the loot that has washed ashore from a Spanish shipwreck in 1715. 9601280

Visit the McLarty Treasure Museum in Vero Beach, FL, to see some of the loot that has washed ashore from a Spanish shipwreck in 1715.

National Atomic Testing Museum

National Atomic Testing Museum

Get a look at debris that many believe is out of this world …. literally ... at the National Atomic Testing Museum.9601280

Get a look at debris that many believe is out of this world …. literally ... at the National Atomic Testing Museum.

Emma LeDoux Murder

Emma LeDoux Murder

In 1906, a woman by the name of Emma LeDoux murdered her fiancé … and attempted to ship his body home in this now-bloodstained trunk, on display at the Haggin Museum in Stockton, CA. 9601280

In 1906, a woman by the name of Emma LeDoux murdered her fiancé … and attempted to ship his body home in this now-bloodstained trunk, on display at the Haggin Museum in Stockton, CA.

McLarty Treasure Museum

McLarty Treasure Museum

Pieces of Eight coins on display at the McLarty Treasure Museum.9601280

Pieces of Eight coins on display at the McLarty Treasure Museum.

National Atomic Testing Museum

National Atomic Testing Museum

Visit the National Atomic Testing Museum to see evidence from the “Russian Roswell” incident. 9601280

Visit the National Atomic Testing Museum to see evidence from the “Russian Roswell” incident.

Haggin Museum

Haggin Museum

Don examines a trunk tied to a gruesome murder at the Haggin Museum in Stockton, CA. 9601280

Don examines a trunk tied to a gruesome murder at the Haggin Museum in Stockton, CA.

1986 UFO Crash

1986 UFO Crash

Get an up-close look at rocks that could be evidence of a 1986 UFO crash in Russia. 9601280

Get an up-close look at rocks that could be evidence of a 1986 UFO crash in Russia.